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Plans to cut down on slash piles

Some changes may be needed in Greentree Solid Waste Authority's approach to ensuring piles of forest debris and yard slash don't accumulate in unincorporated areas of the county, creating a fire danger.

But a decision on how to accomplish that goal was postponed by authority members until their meeting later this month.

"In a nutshell we have a growing problem and it is not going away," said Authority Member Mark Doth, a Lincoln County commissioner. "There is growing confusion out there about what people should be doing. Some of the confusion is legitimate and some is just ignorance."

Sun Valley has an abundance of slash piles, as does Alpine Village and other places throughout the county, he said.

"After a landowner is identified as having too large a pile, nothing seems to get done," he said. "So (the discussion) was an attempt to start moving the ball. The issue is whether the 12-yard allotment (for homeowners) can be taken over a year or all at once. The county through (County Planning Director) Curt Temple has drafted a letter being sent to landowners with instructions that they have 10 days to bring their property into compliance. If they don't taken corrective action, they will be referred to sheriff for further action. The letter will contain the names of eight people who supply services in the area, without a recommendation."

The owners can have the material chipped and thrown back on their land or they can have it hauled away, he said.

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"We have a list of the offenders in Alpine Village and Sun Valley," Doth said. "Why I wanted it on the (authority) agenda is that we need a more accurate line of communication between Greentree and the county as to when it starts to become a problem. Anything over 12 yards is a problem in my book, because of the fire danger here."

The county previously passed an ordinance dealing with slash and "will follow that to the letter of the law," he told the other members of the solid waste authority at their meeting last month. "More importantly, I think we also need some sort of reminder in the billing cycle to remind people. I would keep it in there all the time, saying you have 12 yards of slash that you can have removed at no charge."

However, saying no charge isn't accurate, he said to Authority Operations Manager Debra Ingle. "As you explained it, (the charge) is part of the monthly fee."

The amount to be charged within the monthly fee was calculated years earlier by Ingle, Authority Consultant Joe Lewandowski said. It was changed a couple of times, but now is $5 a month, $60 a year as part of the billing. Ingle explained that in Fiscal Year 2004-2005, the authority board approved making the removal service available to vacant lots.

"It was implemented, but then removed," she said. "This board has the authority to implement it again as a special service, if it is something you want to look at. We offer the service to vacant lot owners when they call and many say just to go ahead, remove the material and send them a bill. But others just dump it."

Doth said the destruction that occurred from the Little Bear Fire last June prompted many more people to try to reduce wildfire fuel on their vacant lots.

"This really needs to be looked at, because right now we're in limbo," he said. "The issue is certainly not going away for a long time. We encourage people to clean up their lots in addition to their property, so I think we should have some mechanism in place to (remove the slash)."

Ingle said she will bring the resolution passed by the authority board in 2006 with the same rates to the next meeting for consideration. Ultimately, the responsibility falls on the property owner and they need to be aware of that bottom line, Doth said.

Lewandowski said when he operated a private garbage/slash collection service in the county, he used to have a wood chipper on the back of a truck and he would coordinate between those who wanted chipped material on their land and those who had material they needed to remove.

"The county is open to all suggestions right now," Doth said. "This must be done."

Account payments arrive in bunches

In another issue. County Commission Chairman Jackie Powell was pleased to see a dramatic drop in accounts receivable since last month, but said she received a call from an entity that controls about 350 homes and did not receive its quarterly bill from Greentree, she said.

"They don't receive their bill. They call and maybe get it a week later with finance charges," she said. "It's been going on a year. When they call, they get no customer service, very hateful."

She said since Doth raised the issue last month, an investigation by the U.S. Postal Service determined that a group of bills may have been "dumped in El Paso." Since she sent out new bills, Ingle said she received $179,000 in payments. "So, if I missed someone, let me know, because I'm the one doing the billing," she said. No finance charges will be applied.

"I did not implement the late fee based on what we learned," she said.